Games of Chance and Skill
Various games of chance and skill are well known in the prior art. One class of these games provides for a winner (or winners) based on statistical probabilities. A set of rules is established for a given game, wherein the rules account for the probabilities of winning the given game. Many of these games are well known as casino or parlor games involving dice, playing cards, or turns of the wheel.
Games belonging to another set of known games are commonly referred to as "lottery" games or "promotional" games. In such games a number of players are each provided with a ticket. Depending on the specific type of game, the selection of the winning ticket can be achieved prior to, at the time of, or after distributing the tickets to the players. A number of the state governments in the United States conduct lotteries in which the members of the public purchase chances for winning prizes representing a portion of the total revenue from sales of such tickets.
In one popular lottery game, a person purchases a ticket for a given predetermined price, such as $1. One name given to this type of a lottery game is the "instant winner" game because the winner can be determined instantly. In this game the tickets have preprinted numbers, letters, or symbols. The numbers, letters, or symbols are typically covered by a removable opaque rub-off material or, in some cases, by a removable opaque paper flap. A certain combination provides a winning ticket. The winner's share can be fixed or variable, or, alternatively, the winner can be provided with a further opportunity to win. The number and total amount of winnings, actual or potential, is controlled by designating the number of winning tickets printed.
In a popular game called "lotto" a person purchases a ticket but selects the combination of numbers at the time of purchase. Alternatively, the person may elect to have the provider of the lotto game randomly select the combination (this is commonly referred to as an "easy-pick"). At a predesignated time a "drawing" is made in which a combination is chosen as the winning combination. For example, in a game referred to as "6/49 lotto," a player selects any six numbers out of a total of forty-nine numbers. At the drawing, six numbers are drawn to select the winner. The player having the winning combination of six numbers is declared a winner. If there is more than one winner, then the "pot" is shared by all of the winners.
There are variations to the "6/49 lotto," wherein selecting three, four, or five numbers also results in a win of a smaller prize. In another variation, a seventh number is drawn as a "bonus" number at the time of the drawing. A player selecting five of the six winning numbers plus the "bonus" number is entitled to win an amount that is less than the amount for correctly selecting all six numbers, but more than the amount for selecting only five out of the six numbers. In other games, the player may select symbols other than numbers, such as playing cards, letters, etc.
In these lottery games, the players purchase the tickets at various authorized outlets, which are typically located at grocery, convenience, or other retail stores. In most instances, the tickets are provided in the form of a paper medium with the information printed thereon. For the lotto games, once a player's numbers are provided as inputs to a computerized tracking system, those selected numbers are then printed onto a predesignated paper form for the player to retain. For the "instant winner" game, the winning combination is preprinted on the ticket prior to the time of purchase, so that in many instances the player at the time of purchase can determine if he or she has won. Elaborate systems are available to conceal the preprinted combination so that the preprinted combination is revealed only after the ticket is purchased. One popular technique involves "scratching-off" a masking layer to expose the underlying preprinted combination.
In most instant games, the player exposes all the preprinted information on the ticket. A certain number of tickets have preprinted information entitling the players to certain prizes. That is, the specific tickets that will win are entirely predetermined (or "controlled") in advance at the time of manufacture.
In another type of instant game, the player exposes only some of the preprinted combinations needed to make the ticket a winning ticket provided the player chooses the correct portions of the ticket to expose. The specific tickets that will win are thus not predetermined in advance. Instead, the specific tickets that will win are determined at the time the player plays the ticket. In these games, the operator of the game typically relies on the laws of probability to cause a certain predictable percentage of the tickets to win. It is, however, theoretically possible for any ticket (and every ticket) to win.
It is to be noted that some form of paper medium, such as a paper slip or card, is retained by each of the players as a ticket or receipt to be later submitted or exchanged to claim the prize.